One step forward.....

Hello @Dimity. Yes the cupboards are done and I'm beginning to get a system underway.

You're right - the FAQs may help sometimes. I haven't had any difficulty with ZOOM but other complexities are beyond me. There are so many procedures and terminologies to understand.

Another day. Happy Monday to you. I'm feeling a little more optimistic, thank you. And thank you for writing.

Good morning @Historylover ,

Anything special on the agenda today?

You are an early checker-in too, @BPDSurvivor. I like to breakfast, get my morning chores done, I usually check in and check my mail, and then plan my day if nothing else has been pre-arranged. Nothing is planned today but trying to systematize this evolving mess will be top of the list. And I must get started - again.

Do you have any plans for the day? Which state are you in?

Hi @Historylover ,

I'm in Vic - so lockdown 0.6 for us.

This has probably been one of the most difficult lockdowns I've had. I had one more difficult one (because I was working like crazy), but this one isn't far from it.

My current challenges include:

- not being able to spend time with family

- working from home

- uni work - really can't be bothered - too much screen time in a day

As part of self care,

- I wake at the same time each day despite what time I sleep

- eat healthily

- go for a walk each day

- reflect on my achievements each day

So for today, I've already had 3 meetings...

For the rest of the day, I'm going to go for a walk, try and catch up with uni, then enjoy some reading.

Besides that, I'm not really sure.

BPDSurvivor

Sounds like you are in Melbourne too, @BPDSurvivor? What is your uni work?

Hi @Historylover ,

Yes, I'm in the heart of Melbourne.

Im completing my last semester of a Masters degree in Special Education.

So all up, about 5 assignments and 2 placements. I'm on placement at the moment (online) and have 4 more weeks.

It is what it is. I'm just happy that the 'end' is in sight.

BPDSurvivor

@Historylover

So much is in the eye of the beholder. Yes you pointed out the lighter stuff of renovating but the hard work and living amoing it all with small children is very tough. Yes I have benefitted from the work and can now relax a lot more, and so my children can too. The overwork did contribute to my current physical disability and a long period (at least a decade) of severe pain.

I do not really mind a pile of dishes. Its less than the piles when I worked in hospitality. I am probably pretty efficient. It seems a waste of water, time and effort to insist on the super clean look for, all the time. I let sink tidiness ebb and flow. My son now gets involved with doing his share. If I had stood on my soapbox about cleaning, we would have had a lot more conflict and things would be far worse. Maybe people will judge me, but I am concerned with water over use, and impressing the Joneses with Home Beautiful, rather than deeper morals, ethics and social conscience and conversation. If I always lived alone I may be different, but my story has always involved a lot of responsibility for others. To get annoyed or down with house work actually reduces my energy available to do it. I have been responsible for both inside and outside this house for over 20 years, so its not even just the old gender split re domestic duties. I advocate for an approximately clean and tidy living space and leave it at that.

I am not sure about further study for myself. I am pretty good at finishing even if I am juggling other things, and do the long term part itme approach. Study has been my safe zone. I have also been lucky and done a lot of various professional development short courses. Thinking that more church involvement might be the way forward for me in these times. I have found and recently joined a progressive environment with values I share, and flexible on and offline events. We'll see what happens.

What would you do if you do go back?

Thankyou @Historylover @from your Clawde 😍

I lived in the heart of Melbourne quite some time ago too. It was absolutely amazing to live in such a different environment from suburbia. So bustling and exciting. It was a pleasure to move back into a suburb though. I hadn't realize it at the time but I had to conclude that there is inbuilt pressure to living amongst such activity. I wouldn't have missed it for the world though.

So pleased you can see the end of your studies approaching. Perhaps you'll miss it.

Cheers @BPDSurvivor.

Re: renovating @Appleblossom - I must add there's renovating and there's renovating! It sounds like you have had too much of the latter. I've had too many years of not having the opportunity to do either. This is just refurbishment and I get to watch.

By the way - I let sink tidiness ebb and flow too, but at the moment I am thoroughly enjoying doing dishes. If I wanted to sound ungrateful, I could nitpick the kitchen but I don't want to do that. However there is much to be said for the older way of doing things. Kits are not for me and a kit kitchen is not something I would do myself, now that I have seen it done. I prefer the work of a qualified cabinet maker. From the enormous task of putting this together, I have to ask if there is actually a saving in time - or even money. I have never compared re money.

My old kitchen was built probably 40+ years ago and design was more important then, it seems to me. Today it seems more important to concentrate on impressions. I had a single bowl sink with a tray on either side. I now have a single bowl sink which forces me to work from right to left because there is only one tray - on the left - and a 30cm bench on the right side to put my dirty dishes. I would have thought that right handedness was more the average and that it should be designed for. They shuffle things about thinking it will work better, but it doesn't. I can't help but work from right to left and it's confusing to do otherwise.

The surfaces are lovely though, but as for organization - I'm still trying to work that through. I don't have as much workable space and consider much is wasted. Oh well. It's not mine to worry about.

I had joined the bowls club for a term because it had been so many years since I had played any sport and I really miss that outlet. As you may be aware, it didn't work out - socially. Another of my considerations for it was that my ex-husband plays pennant since our divorce. I don't like the game myself but thought that it may be something we could do together if we ever reconciled. We all have to meet each other half-way in many things after all, and I was prepared to do my bit. Tried it to enable a re-appraisal from actual experience, but it's not for me.

I love to study and although I take lengthy breaks, I may never get enough in my lifetime. If I finish my re-initiation course, I would like to follow on with something relating to psychology or sociology. I absolutely love understanding such matters and having had a psychiatrist who educated me, and allowed me to discuss my own findings and thoughts was a thrill and great privilege. Or I might do something completely different. Who knows? And I would like my ex-husband, if we ever reconcile, to meet me on my favoured turf - instead of the other way around. He is an intelligent fellow and is taking the easy road through life instead of the road less travelled. I would love to do that together. It's just a thought.

P.S. I don't get down with housework either. I just discipline myself to do my essential chores first, and then the rest of the day is mine to do with as I choose. And I'm environmentally and socially - societally? - conscious too. To each his own.